Table 2. Descriptive characteristics (numbers and percentages) of subjects and subsamples.
| Overall | Men | Women | P value* | Tsukuba | Koganei | Shizuoka | Kagoshima | P value† | |
| n = 865 | n = 403 | n = 462 | n = 207 | n = 248 | n = 222 | n = 188 | |||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
| Age, years | |||||||||
| 20–29 | 135 (15.6) | 52 (12.9) | 83 (18.0) | 37 (17.9) | 36 (14.5) | 31 (14.0) | 31 (16.5) | ||
| 30–39 | 140 (16.2) | 53 (13.2) | 87 (18.8) | 36 (17.4) | 40 (16.1) | 33 (14.9) | 31 (16.5) | ||
| 40–49 | 185 (21.4) | 85 (21.1) | 100 (21.6) | 48 (23.2) | 50 (20.2) | 53 (23.9) | 34 (18.1) | ||
| 50–59 | 188 (21.7) | 104 (25.8) | 84 (18.2) | 43 (20.8) | 51 (20.6) | 51 (23.0) | 43 (22.9) | ||
| 60–69 | 217 (25.1) | 109 (27.0) | 108 (23.4) | 43 (20.8) | 71 (28.6) | 54 (24.3) | 49 (26.1) | ||
| Mean ± SD | 47.9 ± 13.9 | 49.3 ± 13.5 | 46.6 ± 14.3 | 0.001 | 45.5 ± 13.7 | 48.7 ± 14.1 | 48.3 ± 13.9 | 47.3 ± 14.3 | 0.090 |
| Education, years | |||||||||
| <13 | 332 (38.6) | 148 (37.1) | 184 (39.8) | 0.440 | 74 (35.9) | 62 (25.2) | 101 (45.5) | 95 (50.8) | <0.001 |
| ≥13 | 529 (61.4) | 251 (62.9) | 278 (60.2) | 132 (64.1) | 184 (74.8) | 121 (54.5) | 92 (49.2) | ||
| Marital status | |||||||||
| Married | 650 (75.5) | 321 (79.9) | 329 (71.7) | 0.005 | 153 (74.6) | 183 (74.1) | 179 (81.0) | 135 (71.8) | 0.148 |
| Not married | 211 (24.5) | 81 (20.1) | 130 (28.3) | 52 (25.4) | 64 (25.9) | 42 (19.0) | 53 (28.2) | ||
| Employment status | |||||||||
| Employed | 644 (74.5) | 345 (85.6) | 299 (64.9) | <0.001 | 169 (81.6) | 179 (72.5) | 172 (77.5) | 124 (66.0) | 0.002 |
| Not employed | 220 (25.5) | 58 (14.4) | 162 (35.1) | 38 (18.4) | 68 (27.5) | 50 (22.5) | 64 (34.0) | ||
| Living with a child or person in need of care | |||||||||
| Yes | 313 (36.2) | 136 (33.8) | 177 (38.3) | 0.178 | 87 (42.0) | 75 (30.4) | 94 (42.3) | 57 (30.3) | 0.004 |
| No | 551 (63.8) | 266 (66.2) | 285 (61.7) | 120 (58.0) | 172 (69.6) | 128 (57.7) | 131 (69.7) | ||
| Self-rated health | |||||||||
| Fair or poor | 407 (47.2) | 205 (50.9) | 202 (43.9) | 0.047 | 98 (47.8) | 117 (47.2) | 111 (50.0) | 81 (43.1) | 0.571 |
| Good | 456 (52.8) | 198 (49.1) | 258 (56.1) | 107 (52.2) | 131 (52.8) | 111 (50.0) | 107 (56.9) | ||
| BMI, kg/m2 | |||||||||
| <25 | 689 (79.9) | 288 (71.6) | 401 (87.2) | 161 (77.8) | 204 (82.6) | 181 (81.5) | 143 (76.9) | ||
| ≥25 | 173 (20.1) | 114 (28.4) | 59 (12.8) | 46 (22.2) | 43 (17.4) | 41 (18.5) | 43 (23.1) | ||
| Mean ± SD | 22.4 ± 3.2 | 23.5 ± 3.0 | 21.5 ± 3.1 | <0.001 | 22.5 ± 3.3 | 22.3 ± 3.2 | 22.4 ± 3.2 | 22.4 ± 3.2 | 0.926 |
| Exercise, days/week | |||||||||
| <3 | 684 (79.1) | 325 (80.6) | 359 (77.7) | 0.315 | 156 (75.4) | 202 (81.5) | 163 (73.4) | 163 (86.7) | 0.004 |
| ≥3 | 181 (20.9) | 78 (19.4) | 103 (22.3) | 51 (24.6) | 46 (18.5) | 59 (26.6) | 25 (13.3) | ||
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; SD, standard deviation.
*Comparisons between men and women, using the chi-square test or t-test.
†Comparisons between locations of residence, using the chi-square test or ANOVA.
The total numbers of respondents are not always equal, due to missing data.